This week has been all about preparation. In the picture above you can see just a fraction of the vegetables and flowers waiting to be planted in the gardens. Some of the more hardy plants like kale, mint, lettuce, and beets are all ready hardening off. This means they are taken out of the greenhouse and left outside in their current containers to get used to the environment. Three types of mint have already been planted in the beds along the lodge ginger mint, banana mint, and spearmint.

In the Garden of Seven Gates the sugar snap peas and shell peas are growing nicely, they enjoy the cool nights. We also had our very first vegetable harvest of the year, asparagus. For some of our other seedlings we are building simple cold frames using cement blocks and old windows. The frame is placed on the ground and is used to house, protect, and harden off seedlings and small plants, without artificial heat. The windows are removed during the day and put back on top at night to protect the plants from the cold. The new lilac bushes along the gate are starting to bloom and soon we will be seeing many types of beautiful flowering buds in the garden.

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